Welcome To New York
by Dymond
Summary: Sara can't handle Vegas anymore, so she leaves for New York where she meets up with our favorite country girl. [xover with CSI][SaraLindsay]


**Warnings: **femmeslash, mentions of slash, drinking

**I do not own CSI or CSI:NY.**

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**Welcome To New York**

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Sara Sidle wasn't sure what exactly she was doing in New York, just that she was glad it wasn't Las Vegas.

It had been coming for a long time, everyone at the lab knew that, but Brass's shooting had really been her breaking point. All she knew was that she couldn't handle one more minute of this city that held so many terrible memories.

This is what had led her to Grissom's office one morning after her shift had ended.

"I want a transfer."

Grissom looked at her over the rim of his glasses. "To the day shift?"

"No," she said as she moved further into the room and gently shut the door behind her. "To another city."

Grissom sighed and removed his glasses. He knew this was going to happen eventually, he just didn't expect it to be happening now of all times. He gestured at the chair in front of his desk for her to sit down. "What city?"

She released a breath she hadn't known she was holding and sat down; grateful he wasn't going to interrogate her. "New York City would be preferred. I've got a cousin there."

A week later Grissom had informed her that the Crime Lab in New York had accepted her transfer.

That was how Sara ended up here, in this city even larger than Vegas, preparing to enter her new boss's office.

-

Lindsay Monroe walked into the Crime Lab Monday morning feeling refreshed. Last night had been the first time in a week that she had gotten a full eight hours of sleep, so she was anxious for another exciting day at the crime lab.

She waved at Danny as she walked past. He grunted a greeting over his coffee cup (unlike her, Danny had never been a morning person). The same reaction came from just about everyone else, until Hawkes appeared.

"Morning, Lindsay. You and me have caught a db down on the river."

"Lovely," Lindsay said as she fell into stride next to Hawkes. As they walked past Mac's office, their supervisor called out to them.

"Monroe, Hawkes! You've got the body on the river, right? Take her with you. Her name is Sara Sidle and she's just transferred from the Crime Lab in Vegas. Don't scare her too much, alright?" Mac said as he pointed a brunette woman towards where they were standing.

"Will do, Mac," Lindsay said. Sara caught up to them and there was an awkward silence for a moment, before Hawkes spoke.

"Well, Ms. Sidle, I am Dr. Sheldon Hawkes and this lovely lady is Lindsay Monroe. Welcome to our Crime Lab," Hawkes said with a dramatic arm wave.

Sara cracked a small smile. "Please, it's just Sara."

"Now, I've heard of the crime lab in Las Vegas," Hawkes continued as they entered the elevator. "It's the second best lab in the country, right? Only after the FBI's own, of course. Why would you ever want to leave? It must be amazing."

Lindsay noticed that Sara seemed to be uncomfortable with that particular subject, and as Lindsay was familiar with the feeling she quickly changed the topic.

"I'd bet you didn't see many floaters in Vegas, did you?"

The elevator dinged open and Sara sighed. "Can't say I did."

-

It had been three weeks since Sara had started working in New York. It had been a somewhat awkward three weeks, as she had still been moving into her cousin's extra bedroom. Slowly finding her way around the city was becoming easier and the people at the lab were becoming adjusted to her and vice versa.

Sara didn't know what Grissom had said to Mac, but it must have been something good, because he seemed to like her. He was nice, in that very intimidating sort of way. Sara hadn't gotten the opportunity to work closely with Stella yet, but she seemed nice.

Hawkes was always very friendly and sort of reminded Sara of Grissom with the way he seemed to know everything. Danny was still distant, but Lindsay had said he had been the same way with her when she first came to New York.

Sara and Lindsay had become good friends over the time she had been here, as both of them were relatively new to the team. Right now Sara was waiting for Lindsay at a cop bar called Sullivan's.

"Hey," came a voice from behind her, and she jumped when she felt a hand on her back.

Sara turned and immediately calmed when she saw it was only Lindsay. "Oh, hey. I went ahead and got you a beer, if that's okay."

"Oh yeah, that's fine, thanks," Lindsay said as she sat next to Sara. There was a silence as both women tried to figure out what to say.

"Have you got to do any sightseeing while you've been here?" Lindsay asked finally.

Sara took a drink from her beer. "Not yet, but I want to."

"You should. It was the second thing I did when I got here from Montana."

"I bet there's not a lot more to see here than in Montana," Sara laughed.

Lindsay rolled her eyes. "Seriously. My favorite thing though was that I got to see _RENT _on Broadway. I love musicals and that has to be my favorite."

"Shock! Lindsay is a closet RENT head? This is good."

"Oh, hush you."

A couple hours and many more drinks later (more for Lindsay than Sara) the two were still sitting at their table laughing over follies at their respective labs.

"And he just tripped in the middle of the hallway over absolutely nothing!" Both women started giggling into their drinks as Lindsay continued, "It was the only time I've ever seen Mac stumble."

Sara propped her head up on one hand and pointed the other at Lindsay. "I have a question. I want to know why CSU gets all the emotionally defective men. All of them."

The country girl nodded vigorously. "Tell me about it. I mean Mac and Danny have totally been making eyes at each other for _months_, but they're both so stubborn, they won't say anything about it."

"And Grissom, my supervisor back in Vegas, I'm not even sure he has emotions. It's insane!"

Lindsay burst out laughing then and Sara joined her, not quite sure what was so funny, but she couldn't help it. The other girl had such a pretty smile, that it made her want to smile as well.

When they calmed down, Lindsay looked sideways at Sara. "But I'm glad we're not complete emotional defects. I can prove it too."

"Really, now? How do you intend to prove it?"

"By telling you right here and now," she accentuated each word with a jab at the table, "that I think you're absolutely gorgeous and I might like you more than as a coworker." And then Lindsay leaned over and kissed her square on the lips.

After the initial shock of being kissed by her female friend, Sara responded by tangling her hand into Lindsay's hair and pulling her closer to deepen the kiss.

When they finally broke apart for air Sara whispered, "Well, that's good. 'Cause I think I like you too."

-

Grissom sat down at his desk, and noticed his computer was flashing the New Mail sign. Checking it out he noticed it was from Sara. It had been a while since he heard from her. He clicked on the message and began reading.

_Hey Grissom._

_I thought I'd let you know that I'm doing good here in New York. The weather's a bit colder than what I'm used to (okay, understatement of the year), but all the rain is nice._

_All the people here are really nice, but I still miss everyone back there in Vegas. I've attached some pictures. There's some of Mac (you know Mac Taylor, right?) and Stella, a few of Danny and Hawkes, and a lot of me and Lindsay (all the pictures are labeled so you won't be that confused). Lindsay's my, well I guess girlfriend would be the right word for it. I'll be back for a visit next month, so I guess I can explain it to you then._

_Tell the team hi for me, and keep catching all those bad guys. I'll see everyone in a month!_

_Sara_

_P.S. Mac told me to tell you not to worry; he's giving me plenty of work._

Grissom smiled. At least she was happy.

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**Word Count: **1413

This was written for speedrent challenge #125. This was the first time I've actually written something myself for any of the CSI fandoms. Oh and that last little bit of the CSI season finale? I'm ignoring it.

Reviews would be lovely, dahling.

Dymond


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